We're going to go to the book
of Numbers, but we want to look at a couple verses in the book
of Hebrews this morning. And the first one is found in
Hebrews chapter 10. In Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews
chapter 10 and verse 1 has so much to say about our study of
the book of Hebrews. Excuse me, the book of Numbers.
The book of Numbers, there we go. It has so much to say about
our study of the book of Numbers. I love studying the Old Testament
because that is what Christ Jesus our Lord preached from while
he was here. All of his disciples preach from it. All of the prophets
preach from it. And so he said himself, Moses
wrote to me. And he said to those two on the
road to Emmaus that he explained in all the Old Testament scriptures
the things concerning himself. And here we have it. But in the
book of Numbers chapter 10 and verse one, it shares with us
for the law having a shadow of good things. Now, when we read
the book of Numbers, it follows under that word there, law. It
is a shadow of good things. When we read about that manna,
that's a shadow of a good thing. When we read about the tabernacle,
that's a shadow. When we read about that mercy
seat, that's a shadow. All of these things are shadows
of good things that we find in Christ Jesus the Lord. For the
law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image
of the things, can never underline that, can never with those sacrifices
which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto
perfect. There is no perfection in all
of those sacrifices, in all those types, in all those shadows,
there is no perfection whatsoever That was a shadow of good things
to come. Now in that, those who knew something
knew that this is declaring the gospel and they preached the
gospel from those passages of scripture just as we do today.
Alright, another passage of scripture here in the book of Hebrews I'd
like to read is found in Hebrews chapter 6. Hebrews chapter 6. And I love the studies of the
cities of refuge, but they are a shadow of good things to come. They're not the reality. Christ
is our refuge, and it's brought out here in Hebrews chapter 6
and verse 18. Chapter 6 and verse 18. And it
mentions something in this passage of scripture about fleeing, who
have fled Now that's what we're going to be talking about today,
those who have fled to the cities of refuge. It says here that
by two, Hebrews chapter 6 verse 18, that by two immutable things
in which it was impossible for God to lie. Don't you thank God
every day for He's a God that will not lie to us? He will always
tell us the truth whether we like it or not. It has been said
about Mark Twain. I don't know whether he actually
said this, but it's been brought to my attention. Someone asked
him about what he thought about his view of the Bible, and he
says, you know, it is the part of the Bible that I do understand
that bothers me. You know? A lot of people could
say that too. It's not the part of the Bible
I don't understand that bothers me, it's the part of the Bible
that I do understand that bothers me. Well, here there's two immutable
things. It is impossible for God to lie,
which we might have a strong consolation. Now notice this,
who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before
us, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure
and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil. Whether
the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus made a high priest
forever after the order of Melchizedek. So we have here those words,
who have fled, lay hold, who have fled for refuge. And that's
what we'd like to talk about this morning over in the book
of Numbers chapter 35. Chapter 35, we have a great deal
of this chapter has to do with the cities that were given to
Levi, to the children of Levi. They were not given. They were
not given a specific piece of property like
all of the other tribes were given. They were given cities. There were 48 cities that were
given to them throughout Israel. throughout Canaan, and also among
those two and a half tribes that did not enter in. I just find
that's all, that's God's grace. That he would plant, he would
put, he would have a city of refuge, in fact three of them,
over there with those guys that didn't see God's grace in entering
into the promised land. They were more interested in
grass than they were in promise. All right, there are 48 cities
that were given to the children of Levi. There were six that
were designated as the cities of refuge. Now I will say this,
there was no deliverance if you went to one of the other 42 cities. Can you just hear someone coming
up that's running and you know, well, God should have made this
city a city of refuge too, shouldn't he? No. He left six. He identifies them very clearly
in Scripture, and what's to take place there? There are six cities
of refuge, three in the land that was given to the children
of Israel, and three over there among those two and a half tribes
that did not enter in. We have six cities. You don't
go to some other place. And that is so prominent in the
religious world today and has been since Cain and Abel that
there have been other cities that are said to be just as good
as the cities of refuge, just as good as Christ. It's just
another way of going there. Well, it's not true. You go to
those other cities and you say, I want to have refuge here. The
manslayer is going to take you out in the street and kill you
in front of everybody because you have no right to be there.
And that's what's going to happen in that day when those on the
left hand side say, well, look what we've done. Look what we've
done. Look what we've done. And he's
going to say, I never knew you. That's what's going to happen.
All right. As we go back here to the book of Numbers, chapter
35, I want to read just a few verses in chapter 35. There are
three places in the Old Testament that the cities of refuge are
mentioned, and they all bring us a little bit. I'm not going
to read all of it. You can do that on your own,
but I would like to read in the book of Numbers chapter 35, Numbers
chapter 35, and there in verse 6, Numbers chapter 35 and verse
6, it says, and among the cities which ye shall give unto the
Levites, There shall be six cities for refuge. Now, do you remember
what the Bible tells us how people became Levites? They had to be born. You just
didn't go join them. You just didn't consent or assent
or you didn't say good words or you didn't do good works and
become a Levite. Because we found in the book
of Ezra that those who said they were Levites and could not prove
their pedigree were not Levites. So our pedigree is Christ Jesus
the Lord and all of God's people are gonna trace their line right
back to him. His blood and righteousness is
all we have to depend on and nothing else. All right, now
we have all these 48 cities, and out of that 6 cities shall
be cities of refuge, which ye shall appoint for the manslayer,
that he may flee thither. and to them ye shall add forty-two
cities." All right, forty-eight in total. Six of those are going
to be cities of refuge. Would you join me in the book
of Deuteronomy for a short reading? The book of Deuteronomy, as we
think about these cities of refuge, and look at what God has to say
in His Word about the cities of refuge. And by no means will
we cover it all. There is so much about this.
In the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 19, I'd like to read Deuteronomy
19, verses 4, 5, and 6. This is what happens that requires
or initiates someone to flee to one of those six cities. Depending where you live, there
are going to be six cities, three on one side of the Jordan River,
three on the other side of the Jordan River, and you have the
option of fleeing to any of those six cities. Don't go anywhere
else because it will not help you. They will not come to your
aid. There's no hope in those under
these circumstances. All right. When a man goeth into
the wood, with his neighbor to Heelwood, and his hand fetcheth
a stroke with the axe to cut down the tree, and the head slippeth
from the handle, and lighteth upon his neighbor that he die,
he shall flee unto one of those cities, and live. He shall flee
unto one of those cities and live, lest the avenger of blood
pursue the slayer, while his heart is hot, and overtake him,
because the way is long, and slay him, whereas he was not
worthy of death, insomuch that he hated him not in time past. So this is not for a murder.
This is for, we call them accidental deaths. And yet, you know, there
is no accidental. It is appointed unto man once
to die, and after that, the judgment, there is an appointment we will
keep. The interesting part of it is, we just don't know how
God is going to do that. Whether we'll be in our sleep,
or whether we'll have a rock come through the windshield.
We just don't know. All right. So, it wasn't because
he hated this man that he died, it's because There was an incident
while they were hewing a tree. Wherefore, I command thee, saying,
thou shalt separate three cities for thee. All right, and if you'll
turn with me to the book of Joshua now. Now, chapter 19 of the book
of Deuteronomy, chapter 35 of the book of Numbers, and chapter
20 of the book of Joshua, we have these conversations that
God gave to us about the cities of refuge. I encourage you to
read them. I just am out of time. Alright,
Joshua chapter 20, I want to read verse 3. Joshua chapter
20 and verse 3. Well, verse two and three, speak
to the children of Israel, saying, appoint one for you cities of
refuge, whereof I spake unto you by the hand of Moses. Now
this is the Lord speaking to Joshua, that the slayer that
killeth any person unawares and unwittingly may flee thither,
and they shall be your refuge from the avenger of blood. Now,
what wisdom. compassion and grace did God
exhibit when he determined to give to the children of Israel
cities of refuge. What gracious act of God, what
purpose of grace that he displayed here that he would give a place
that you could flee to if you were a participant in an activity. And as a result of that activity,
a friend of yours, a coworker, was killed. And instead of the
Avenger of Blood taking you right there, you could go to the City
of Refuge. They would take you in. There
was going to be a trial. They were going to find out whether
you were guilty of murder or not. And once you were found
that it was an incident, there was no malice on your part, you
could live in the City of Refuge without being threatened by the
avenger of blood, and if you left, don't leave. And the only time this was over
with was if and when the high priest died. Now there's a lot
of pictures, types and shadows, in all of this study, but we'd
like to look at three parts today that have to do with this. And
that is, there are three participants, three characters in this. The cities of refuge, which the
Lord appointed under the Old Testament dispensation as a shelter
for the manslayer who unintentionally killed another. These cities
are of such wonderful value that they were spread throughout the
land of God, the land of promise, the land of Israel, and also
the two and a half tribes. Now, I want to say this again.
We've mentioned it a number of times, but right now is very
appropriate to say it again. God is the director of all things.
He is the director of everything that is going on. And he has
some actors. I used to be able to say actors
and actresses. Oh, it's, I don't know. It's actors and actresses.
Okay. He has actors and actresses. They belong to him. They are
doing and busy about his purpose. And then the rest are props. They are props. They are hewers
of wood and drawers of water. God is the director, and he's
directing all things. And here we have some actors,
God's people, the ones he saved and the ones he's going to save.
And he is going to give us some illustrations about this, that
there were three different characters mentioned here in this sharing
of the cities of refuge. Now, the first one we'd like
to look at are the magistrates of those cities of refuge. The
second one we'd like to look at is the manslayer. And the
third one we'd like to look at is the avenger of blood. That's
what we'd like to look at today. Now, there's very little said
in the Bible about these magistrates. We have two verses that share
with us from a spiritual context what they were supposed to do.
But the Jewish history shares with us that it was the responsibility
of these magistrates of the six cities of refuge, these magistrates,
they at least once a year were to go out and to examine the
roads leading to the city of refuge. in every direction to
put up, they were to fill in valleys and cut down hills and
throw away the debris and get rid of the rocks and make the
path as smooth as possible. You know, last night, Nathan
and I watched a little video on YouTube about old Lincoln
Highway, which turned into Highway 30, and when it was original,
it was not much. over the years well the cities
of refuge had magistrates and it was their responsibility to
make the way as Clear and plain as possible and along the way
they were to put up signposts Refuge They had a word for that. Now, in the Old Testament, there's
a passage of Scripture that shares with us this principle, and it
is found in the book of Isaiah chapter 40. So, would you turn
with me to Isaiah chapter 40 for just a very short reading?
Isaiah chapter 40, and it's also brought out in the New Testament,
and here it tells us about the the Lord Jesus Christ about His
ministry as a refuge, it tells us here in the book of Isaiah
chapter 40, beginning with verse 1, and this is my commission. And you, as declarers of the
gospel, have the same commission. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people.
And how do we do that? Speak ye comfortably to Israel,
and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity
is pardoned. My goodness, Christ did something
on the cross. Christ took care of sin on the
cross. Christ put away sin on the cross.
It is no wonder that his name was called Jesus, for he shall
save his people from their sins. He actually did that. And now
he goes about revealing that great truth to people. When he
quickens them, they find out, we find out, that he paid for
my sins on the cross and they're no longer chargeable. Now, it
doesn't mean that we don't think ourselves as sinners at times,
but my goodness, his business on the cross availed much, so
much that God the Father was pleased, God the Son was pleased,
and God the Holy Spirit was pleased, and he came out of that tomb
on the third day. All right. For she hath received
of the Lord's hand. Now, it doesn't say that she
did anything. It says she hath received of the Lord, of the
Lord's hand. She didn't do anything. She couldn't
do anything. We couldn't do anything. We have
no capabilities of doing anything. You know, I have picked up a
little vice. Brother Ed, when I was up there
with Brother Ed, he had a metal detector. We went out and it
bit me. I found out that I had picked
up a metal detector and it was in my garage. I paid $5 for it.
I said, I'm going to put some batteries in this thing and see
what happens. You know what? I found about $40 in change so
far. Nothing of any value, few wee
pennies, one loonie from Canada, a dollar coin from Canada. You
know what? Not one of those coins ever jumped
out of the ground at me. I had to dig it up. My machine would find it. Then
I dug it up, and now I have it in my hand. Now, God does that
in a much better way because He finds us in the dirt, He knows
where we are, He finds us in the dirt, He lifts us out of
the dirt, and He quickens us and gives us spiritual life.
And we say, Hallelujah! And then He says, I've loved
you all along. Here we find in Isaiah, and then
it tells us here, The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness,
Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a
highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted. Now this is not in times, this
is present times. You know what God did for us
when he brought us to Christ? He took away every obstacle. He took away everything that
we'd ever heard on how to get to Christ. He took away baptism. He took away getting down on
our knees. He took away praying. He took away all of those things
that we'd been taught all our life on how we come to Christ.
And he said, there is absolutely no restrictions, flee to Christ. And you know what? He's taking
care of the road. He has it all cleared up. He
has it straight. He took and elevated the valleys.
He took the mountains and cut them down. There is absolutely
no restrictions whatsoever. to coming to Christ. There's
nothing He calls on us to do. So He says, Here every valley
shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and
the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain. Jesus
Christ took one of the crookedest religions in the world works
and straightened it in himself and said, by grace are you saved
through faith and that not of yourselves, it's a gift of God.
It is a straight line. It is a straight arrow. I press
towards the mark of the high calling which is in Christ Jesus. So it's a straight arrow. It's
straight, every valley, everything, every. And that was the responsibility
of these magistrates in the cities of refuge to make that road as
clear as possible. And some prankster comes along
and moves the sign and turns it around. They said, no, we're
going to put this around the other way. And this time we're
going to put it in concrete so they can't do that to us. Well,
we might have strong consolation who have fled. for refuge, fled
for refuge. Now, the next person is the manslayer. We'd like to say a few words
about the manslayer. The manslayer. You know, to me,
it was very interesting that the account in Numbers and Deuteronomy
and in Joshua that the manslayer, what he was doing when the incident
took place, he was working. Hewing wood, pounding stone,
whatever. It was always in a work environment
that this took place. The manslayer was doing some
sort of work. When the unthinkable happens,
some might say that that was unfortunate, but you know what?
When we look at this and find out the spiritual implications
of this, it was not unfortunate. It was the most fortunate thing,
and I hate to use that word, but we understand what it is,
gracious thing that could happen to us, is this incident took
place. We are working our full heads
off, and you know what? We find out that if we just took
time to think about it, but we can't clearly think about it,
While we were doing all of our religious work, it was really
a slap in the face of God Almighty because we are saying that what
He did was not quite enough. And we must add to it, our works
are terrible towards God. They have no love of God, they
have no interest in God. It is always self-love and self-interest
when it comes to our works for righteousness sake. And Paul
spent a lot of his time sharing with us, and the Old Testament
does the same thing. That is not by our works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to His mercy He saves us. So
we're here working and an incident takes place, and you know what? it might be the best thing that
ever happened to us. When God would treat us as a
manslayer, we would have an incident took place. Now, if we were left to ourselves,
We would just say, let's bury the guy. We'll tell his wife
he decided to go over to another city. But you know what God had
prepared? A manslayer. Someone who had the legal right
to take the person's life because the manslayer or the avenger
of blood was directly related to the person that was killed.
Alright, let's look at this. There is a way, there is a way
that seemeth right unto man, but the ends of there are the
ways of death. So let's look at the other way. The Avenger of Blood. You know,
the term Avenger of Blood is mentioned many times in the scripture,
but not by that word. It's been translated so often
in another way. The book of Ruth has it about
21 times. The Avenger of Blood is also translated Redeemer,
Kinsman, And a few times when it's dealing
with the cities of refuge, which represent a picture of Christ,
it is called an avenger of blood. You know, we might just get down
to the truth of the matter and find out that when God promised
to send us an avenger of blood, it's the best thing that God
ever did for us in our life. That it is going to be the hands
of God on our back pushing us towards the refuge. That it is
going to be God's purpose of grace to push us towards the
refuge. We have reason to flee now. We
have reason to go now. God in his graciousness has a
kinsman redeemer getting us where we need to be. If he left us alone, we'd just
go back to our own life. We wouldn't think about it much
after tomorrow. Isn't that what we do with sin? Oh, boy. We got all kinds of pills and
all kinds of strategies on how to get rid of that idea of sin
in ourselves so we won't remember it all the time. But the Holy
Spirit, God Almighty, and His Son says, I am going to take
care of this. They will not be able to forget. I have a road for them to travel.
It is the road to the city of refuge, and it is there and there
alone that they will have a refuge, and that refuge will be the Christ
Jesus the Lord. As the avenger of blood comes, He's the nearest of kin, called
an avenger of blood, whose duty was to redeem as kinsman. We
find out that if I sold my property and it needed to be redeemed
and kept in the tribe, my kinsman redeemer would come and pay my
price and deliver that from going out to someone else. My kinsman
redeemer would be involved in paying my said price. My kinsman
redeemer would go about taking care of the problem that I'm
in by my own natural state, being a fallen child of Adam. I have
a kinsman redeemer to take care of that problem. And part of
that is to push me to who can take care of it, and that is
Jesus Christ the Lord. The avenger of blood in some
ways is the best friend a manslayer may have. Not a murderer. You know there's a difference
in scripture between a manslayer and a murderer? A murderer had
no hope. You know, there's a difference
in the Bible between those God has chosen unto glory and those
God has left to themselves. He will not spend a moment of
his blood on them. It is a sham. It is a shame. It is terrible to think for a
moment that people that Jesus Christ died for on the cross
are in hell. That's a terrible thing to think
about the Lord Jesus. It's a terrible thing to think
about His power and influence. Because it means He doesn't have
any power, and it means He doesn't have any influence, and the whole
thing is based upon me. What will I do with Jesus? Left to myself, nothing. Nothing. I will do nothing. I will not
come. I will not speak. I will not
do anything. I will not have this man rule
over me. And by the grace of God, in an
incident, when the gospel is brought, we are forced, if you
please, on good purpose of grace to get us to a place where we
will be safe. And that is in the person Christ
Jesus, our refuge. This, when we read to the church,
Christ is the only refuge. And upon being drawn to the refuge,
we realize the benefit of all the passages of scripture that
declare in Christ. You know, when we read that,
we're just saying, oh, I'm reading about being in the refuge. I'm
in the city refuge. I've been forced here. I've been
pushed here. And now I am thankful I'm here. Oh, for people to say, God wouldn't
do that. Well, you better hope he does.
You better hope he gets involved. You better hope he gets involved
with your salvation. If he doesn't, there's no hope.
We will not bow on our own. But God said, every knee shall
bow and every tongue shall confess. Why? Because I will make them. And you know, when we get down
on our knees in that condition, we say, thank you, Lord. If you
hadn't loved me before the foundation of the world, I'd never have
loved you an ounce. If you hadn't thought of me,
I'd not have thought of you. If you hadn't cared for me, I
wouldn't care for you. If you hadn't been involved first, I
wouldn't have any interest in you whatsoever. Turn with me,
if you would, to the book of Romans, chapter 3 and verse 24,
as we think about what it is to be in the city of refuge,
in Christ. Romans chapter 3 and verse 24 what a statement we
find the Apostle Paul is used as a as a Ambassador and also
a secretary for the Holy Spirit to share with us the good blessings
that we have When we are brought to Christ in Christ in the city
of refuge not out of the city of refuge. I Don't understand
how people can say once they're in the city of refuge that they
can choose to leave who'd want to And number two, if you're
his, you can't. You know what? When we were in
California there, we saw a lot of walnut trees. I mean, orchards,
acres, miles of walnut trees. And you could see that black
barked black walnut root. And grafted to that was an English
walnut. Tree, they're edible. You can
crack them. Those black walnuts, there's
not much you can get out of them. But the roots are good stock
and more hardy. You know what? How possible is
it for that tree to leave its root? Impossible. Alright, Romans chapter 3 being
justified, Romans chapter 3 verse 24, being justified freely by
His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. What do we have in the city of
refuge? Our redemption. We have been redeemed. Our city
of refuge provides redemption. Being justified freely by His
grace. Also in chapter 8 and verse 1.
Chapter 8 of the book of Romans and verse 1. Another great benefit
of being in the city of refuge in Christ. There is therefore
now no condemnation to them that are in Christ. You've been declared
innocent. We find no fault in you. Those who fled there for refuge
when it was proven that this was all according to the eternal
and everlasting purpose of God and you hadn't, you know. We find out that when we are
born, we are born with the sinful nature that we got from Adam. That's just the way it is. We
came forth from our mother's womb speaking lies. That's just
the way it is. But an infant did not sin after
the similitude of Adam. But we sure grow up to it, don't
we? There's not an age of accountability. We don't have that, oh, we're
12 years old. We're gonna make sure that you
make a profession of faith. That's not the issue. The issue
is, therefore, there is now no condemnation that are in Christ
Jesus, who walked not after the flesh, but after the spirit.
No condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. Oh, what
a statement. Friend, welcome. And you know,
I've said this many times, you never had to go ask somebody,
why are you here in the city of refuge? We all know why we're
here. It's a refuge. Out there in our religious life,
it was a death trap. Here we have a refuge. Here we
have no condemnation. Here we have grace. Here we have
God's blessings and mercy. It goes on to tell us in the
book of Romans chapter 8 and verse 39, read that with me,
as we think about being in the city of refuge. Verse 38 and
39, For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels,
nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things
to come, are in time�s doctrine. It could have been added. Most of what we hear I was looking
at sermon audio the other day. All you have to do is look at
the title sometimes. And this one says, The Earthquake in New
York. Did that make me want to listen
to that? Not on your life. Not on your life. That's not
the issue. What? Think ye of Christ. Now that's the issue. Says here,
I'm persuaded, none of those things, none of those, and some
of those are monstrosities. Can you put your finger on principalities
or powers or things present or things to come? Can you put your
finger on that? Can you describe that? Can you
come to a, and then it says, nor height nor depth nor any
other creature shall be able to separate us from the love
of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. What can separate us
from God in the city of refuge? Not one thing. Nothing, all of
the things that we can describe plus all the things we cannot
describe. Nothing shall separate God's people from God. It is
a good place to be. In the book of Galatians chapter
2, would you turn there with me, Galatians chapter 2. In Galatians
chapter 2 we read these words about being in the city of refuge,
in Christ. In Galatians chapter 2 and verse
4, There is a liberty. You know,
the guy's there of his own will. I like what Scott Richardson
said in a message. He said, God save me against
my will with my full consent. Here we have it, and that because
of false brethren, unawares, brought in who came in privately
to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus. You know, in the city of refuge,
you get all the bread you want. In the city of refuge, you get
all the water you want. In the city of refuge, you get
all the rest you want. In the city of refuge, you are
there. You are king and queen. You are priests and kings. You have every spiritual blessing
in Christ Jesus. Everything belongs to the person
in the city of refuge in Christ Jesus. And there are those who
have come along and says, You know, really, really, you don't
have that liberty. You don't have that. We want
you back under the law. We want you to feel bad about
your life. We want you to feel bad. We want
you to feel guilty. We want you to feel, we want
to be able to rule over you. We want you to be under our thumb. And on and on it goes, and Christ
Jesus the Lord said, I rule over all, and I've declared them innocent. Now that doesn't give us a license
to sin, does it? Oh, the idea. A friend of mine
down in California was called an antinomian, and I said, just
take it as a credit. The person who said it doesn't
know a thing about the gospel. Just take it as a credit. To
say that you're not under law, you know, I'm under the law of
Christ. I'm under the law of Christ. Believe his word. I like what a friend of mine
told his daughter. She said, you don't think I'm saved, do
you? And he said, no, I know you're not. And he said, how
do you know that? He says, well, number one, you've never been
a sinner. And number two, you don't believe the report. Boy,
what does that mean? I'm a sinner. I believe the report.
Yeah, right here, the Word of God. All right, Galatians 3,
verse 26, would you join me there? Galatians 3, verse 26, what is
another benefit of being in the city of refuge? For ye are all
the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. What a wonderful
thing to find out. I'm a child of God. He begat
me. The new birth brought about something
that I couldn't do myself. He begat me. He brought me out
of the dirt. He polished me up. What a glorious
thing. And He gave me life. Alright,
let's look at 2 Timothy. Let's go to Ephesians 2, verse
10 first. You could probably quote that, but I just want to
share it again. It's such a glorious verse of Scripture, for we are
His workmanship. Ephesians chapter 2 and verse
10, for we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto
good works. Which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them. You know that person that was
really fled and came to the city of refuge? You know how he walked?
As a redeemed man. As a redeemed man. He walked
as a redeemed man. I owe it all to God. I owe it
all. And then finally in 2 Timothy
chapter 1. 2 Timothy chapter 1. We have
the avenger of blood coming after us. His handprint's been on our back. We didn't even know it. He's
pushing us towards the city of refuge. I have every right. Do you believe God has the right?
Did He have the right to slay us? Absolutely. He showed grace, pushed us toward
the city, pushed us through the gate, entered in, and guess what? That part of our kinsmen is going
to stand outside. I can't go there. I've already
redeemed them. All right. In the book of 2 Timothy
chapter 1, 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 9, we have these glorious
words, who has saved us and called us with holy calling. not according
to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which
was given us, where? In Christ Jesus before the world
began. What a wonder to find out, oh,
I've been his child all along. What a wonder to find out, he
died for me on the cross. What a wonder to find out. You
know, all that nonsense I went through, God, he had a purpose
in it. And then he pushed me to where
there's hope, the city of refuge, Christ Jesus the Lord, and there
I sit today. as he has commanded us, cease
from your works, sit down in me, the city of refuge. Brother
Mike.